Monday, January 9

Everything is Amazing.

I get asked a lot, "So, what did you learn in New Orleans?" All the time. It is one of the first things people ask. My grandmother, my friends, even a former teacher I ran into. What did I learn? And it is such a difficult question. I think I would equate it to asking someone what they learned in High School or what they liked about college. Any sane person has dozens of answers to that one question. It is such a struggle to sum up an experience with so many different facets.

So what did I learn? Mostly that I am kind of a brat. I'm selfish in my day-to-day interactions. And I started to learn how to be just a little bit less of a brat. I'm learning. Practice makes perfect I suppose.

One of the things I will take away from this year is a bit harder to swallow. I learned a lot about race and racism. I also learned the term "White People Problems".

My favorite comedian, Louis CK, talks about White People Problems. It is actually a frequent topic in his standup. What exactly are White People Problems? Things that are so ridiculous, like our ability to make a story and complain about each and every air-travel experience we have, and only Americans have these constant complaints. Having to choose a language at the ATM. Facebook's newest changes to their layout or photo viewer. Having a girlfriend that doesn't like the same music. Short battery life on cell phones. Coors instead of Pabst. Obviously he and I generalize quite a bit. Not just white people have these problems.

But seriously! How ridiculous are these things! We should constantly be in awe of our lives, rather than complaining about them. We have phones. Not just phones, CELL phones! We can be reached at any time, any place. You used to have to go see someone if you wanted to talk to them. Or send them a message in the Pony Express. Instead, we can call, text, email or facebook somebody and be certain that their iPhones will let them know what we're thinking.

Truly, that is one of the things I learned about this year. The fake problems that we invent because our day-to-day lives have so few real problems. They're ridiculous. Hopefully I remember how silly it is and don't get back into the world of white people problems. I guess this is one of the things I want to carry out into my regular life...

In other news, one of my New Years Resolutions is to use better grammar, punctuation and capitalization when I'm on the computer. It is a good habit to have and it is a tacky habit to not have.

One of my Resolutions was NOT to blog more often. Sporadically is still good enough for me!